| "Painters come from all walks of life, from all traditions,
from East and West. Some paint from the position of realism,
others from abstraction. Some go to the interior expression
of the soul, while others deliver the most exterior manifestation
of political signs. Painters paint formal compositions, surrealist
apologies, expressionist diatribes, and postmodern narratives.
But the question remains in this era after postmodernism as
to what constitutes a painting. Is painting to be regarded
only as a medium? A material effect? Is it merely a juxtaposition
of forms and pigments? A matter of representation? The fact
is that painting still remains a vital force, a constant in
the world of transition? Painting offers us a tactile experience
that goes far beyond the virtual world of the digital image.
Painting is both personal and conceptual. It is a way of seeing
through time, a fictive reality, that goes to the surface
of things. Painting exists as a tactile phenomenon. It exists
beyond the mere act of representation. The gestures and the
shapes go beyond the limits of what is known as a mimetic
portrait of the external visual world.
"Josiane Soder (born 1956) is a Swiss painter who has
shown her paintings extensively over the past six years. She
paints in a style that is loosely expressionist with a strong
emphasis on the materiality of her medium. Her use of acrylic
on canvas admits an openly divergent sensibility as expressed
through her method of application and her incisive, fluid
manner of handling the paint. In Art on Fire (2001), Soder
exemplifies this approach by using cross-hatched strokes,
made with a straight-edge, inscribed across the surface of
a bright orange and yellow field. The strokes are diagonally
situated in relation to one another. Soder employs a technique
of thrusts and counterthrusts in order to build-up the tension
of the surface. This standard approach to the inscription
of marks is used in other paintings of the same scale (80
X 160 cm). For example, in Rhythm (2001), Soder delivers a
cool green space, heightened by a flurry of yellow swirls,
accented with large umber marks. In contrast to the more heated
surface of Art on Fire, the strokes in Rhythm rarely cross
over one another. Instead, they appear to float in the green
space—dancing and pulsating in energetic bliss."
— from Josiane Soder:
The Rhythm of the Senses
essay by appearing in Josiane Soder: Reconstructing Abstraction
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